Will and the Three Brothers
by LadyShinigami12
Summary: And Death Spoke to them: "My name is William T. Spears."
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My first Crossover! suddenly this idea struck me, and I couldn't get it out. I mean, combining Shinigami's with Harry Potter? How perfect is that?

Newly made reaper William T. Spears was bored. He kept re-reading the files of the souls he was supposed to collect. Damn Human Resources, they must have typed the time of death wrong, it was supposed to happen five minutes ago. This was his first case alone with multiple deaths, and everything had already been screwed up.

Finally, he heard a noise in the forest and three men came out, laughing and swinging half-empty bottles in their hands.

After reading the files several times over, Will had memorized their death reports. _Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell (brothers) drowning while trying to cross the river. _It wasn't an uncommon death, this river had kept his office fairly busy.

The youngest of the three looked up, his drunk giggling beginning to subside. He nudged his brothers who also began to stop giggling and they all looked up and down the stream.

"Should we turn back?" the youngest asked, "Or maybe go down the river to find an easier point to cross?"

The oldest two shook their heads. "Honestly, your so naïve, Iggy*."

"If we do that we'll lose at least half a day. No, we're crossing."

Will prepared his scythe, waiting for them to jump in. He hoped they didn't stay alive too long, he didn't want to have to chase them downstream.

The eldest, Antioch, looked like he was going to jump first. But instead of jumping, he took out a stick from his jacket. Will first thought he would throw it in to see how deep it was, but then the other brothers took out sticks as well. And then it hit him—

_Wizards_. He silently cursed to himself. He had only read about them in his academy studies. They were a relatively small group of mortal humans who had long ago discovered magic and passed it down through the generations (sometimes the magic skipped a few generations making it seem as though they were born from regular mortals). However, after discovering magic, they were arrogant enough to believe they had solved the world's mysteries. They didn't even know there was another world under _their_ underworld. They knew little about demons, and nothing about angels and reapers.

They were, however, dangerous and mischievous. As death records didn't read magic, the records often showed wizards getting into impossible death scenarios (like this one) so a reaper had to be called. But when the reaper arrived, they found someone who was not close to death at all. He knew Wendolyn the Weird had his own cabinet of death files.

The three wizards flicked their sticks (or wands, whatever) and out came a bridge over the river.

Will knew he should have gone back to the reaper realm immediately. He needed to report this incident to division headquarters. However, that meant a great deal of paperwork, investigations, etc. Besides, he needed these three souls to complete his record of never leaving a soul behind (it wasn't extremely impressive as he was still only a beginning reaper, but he liked to maintain the record anyway). He might as well stay, and make sure they actually didn't die crossing the bridge, although he didn't see how that was possible. The bridge was rather well made.

He sat lazily on the bridge, waiting for the brothers to pass. Like all mortals (except those moments before death) they couldn't see him.

"Who are you?" Will looked up suddenly. All three brothers had their wands pointed at him. He looked down on himself and suddenly realized he had turned off his invisibility, as some reapers did when they wanted to speak with mortals. This, however, was a complete accident, his jacket must be malfunctioning. Damn, he really was a rookie.

"Are you a wizard, or a muggle?" the middle brother asked him. Will stared at them, speechless. He vaguely recalled that wizards referred to normal mortals as muggles.

"Neither." Will finally said. "I'm William T. Spears."

"What's that you're holding?" the eldest brother said. Will followed his gaze to his tree-trimmer, the standard issue death scythe for fully-fledged reapers (although some people like Grell made modifications, he chose not to).

Will looked at the scythe for a moment and bit his lip. Could he get away with pulling the same trick twice?**

He looked back at the brothers. "This is a death scythe. I use it to reap souls."

"A Death Scythe?" the youngest one said, "What, like the ones Grim Reapers carry?"

"What in the name of Merlin is a Grim Reaper?" The middle one asked.

"Oh, they're stories muggles tell of a cloaked figure that takes the souls of the dead into the afterlife.

"You spend too much time around muggles, Iggy." Antioch said.

"I am a Grim Reaper." Will said, slowly gaining confidence. "I was sent here to collect your souls."

"Do I look like I'm dying?" Cadmus asked. Will frowned at him.

"You were supposed to die in this river. There was nothing in the report that you were wizards."

Antioch sneered. "So we beat you, huh?" there was a glint in his eye, and Will got the feeling that this was a man who enjoyed winning. Suddenly, inspiration hit Will. A wonderful, ingenious, paperwork-free inspiration.

"Indeed, I must congratulate you. Not many have been able to defeat me so easily." This was not completely a lie. The simple truth was, he hadn't faced that many opponents.

Antioch smiled and looked at his brothers. "So, what do we get?" he asked.

Will bit his lip a second. "What would you like?"

Antioch and Cadmus looked like Christmas had come early. Ignotus was more suspicious, but Will focused his attention on the elder two.

"I want a wand," Antioch said, "That will let me defeat any opponent!" Will nearly had to bite his lip to keep in his smirk. He really was arrogant, the stereotypical wizard. With the press of a button, he extended his scythe and snapped a branch off a nearby tree. He never thought he would actually use his death scythe for its intended purpose.

He tried to hand it to Antioch, but the mortal man merely stared at it. "What's the core?" he asked.

"Oh, right." Will forgot that in order to control their magic, wizards had to funnel it through a magical core. There wasn't exactly an abundance of magical cores lying around. He puzzled for a moment, when he had an idea. Cinematic records weren't that different than some types of magic. He clasped his scythe blade around the wood again and deposited some blank cinematic record into it.***

He then handed it back to Antioch. The mortal man suddenly had a horribly sadistic look in his eye.

Will was mildly disturbed for a moment, when he turned his attention to Cadmus. "We really beat you, didn't we?" Cadmus asked.

"We've been over this, yes." Will said, exasperated.

Cadmus grinned evilly. "Than I want something that'll really teach you a lesson. I want the power to bring back the dead."

Will frowned. There was no way he could release collected souls. However, he grabbed a pebble from the riverbank and came back. He poured more blank record into the stone. That way, it would only call back an imprint of the departed soul, whatever the caller remembered about the soul from his own memory. It should be enough to fool him.

As Cadmus began admiring the stone, Will could only think that this was getting extremely elaborate for a plot to retrieve a few lost souls, but he might as well keep it up now that he was this far.

Finally he turned to the third brother, Ignotus. Ignotus frowned at him suspiciously. "I don't want any of your curses, Death."

Will tried not to show his anxiety. His plan to collect souls would not work if all three didn't participate.

Luckily, Antioch and Cadmus apparently had their hearts set on death. "Come on, Iggy. Isn't there anything you want?"

"It's not everyday you get a gift from 'death' is it?" Will looked hard into the eyes of the youngest brother. They both understood that the elder brothers obviously thought they had merely come across a powerful wizard who could craft them marvelous gifts. Ignotus, however, knew what Will really was, and therefore knew whatever Will said it was probably a trick. Will just had to convince him otherwise.

"I can give you nearly anything you want." Will told him.

Ignotus' frown only deepened. "Fine," He said, "Fine. Give me a way to hide from any enemy. Including you."

Will gave him a half-smile. He took of his jacket and handed it over. It was malfunctioning, anyway, or the wizards wouldn't have been able to see him. But again, it should be enough to fool mortals.

Ignotus took it suspiciously, but took it nonetheless. The men nodded at Will and continued on their way down the bridge.

Will smiled to himself, watching the brothers go. All he needed to do was get himself another invisibility jacket (only one slip of paperwork) and follow the brothers until his 'gifts' led them to their eventual death.

"And Sutcliff says I'm no fun."

*There is a reason I picked this as his nickname. Brownie points to whoever gets it!

**This is in reference to 'The tale of Will the Shinigami' in which he tells his 'subject' the truth of his identity in order to judge him.

***I know that JK Rowling has said at some point what the Elder wands core is, but I forget, therefore the fact is invalid and I can do whatever I want and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SAY OTHERWISE. other than that, blank cinematic record is something I made up, but I figure it might be records of people whose lives have been cut short by demons or whatever, therefore it's unused, and reflects other memories when it comes in contact with a real memory. that will become clearer in later chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Will had returned from the reaper world (with a fully functioning reaper jacket) he easily found the brothers once again. They were all sitting in a tavern admiring their new gifts at a table. Will watched them silently.

Antioch had taken a knife and was whittling his wand into something more decorate. Ignotus was waving his own wand over his jacket, making it appear more as a cloak.

Cadmus, however, was having difficulty. "Damn," He said, staring at the rock Will had given him, "I should have asked him how to use this stupid thing." He lifted it up to eye level and stared into it intently. "You, pebble, give me back Sarah."

Antioch rolled his eyes at his brother. "You're taking that damn thing seriously? Just get rid of it." He knocked the pebble out of his brother's hand and onto the floor.

Cadmus dived after the stone, attracting the looks of several other patrons. He enclosed both hands around the small stone as though his life depended on it and came back to their table. "How can you say you don't take it seriously? You've been oggling that damn thing since you got it."

"What, this?" He said, raising his new wand, "I don't even know if it works yet. For all I know, it's just a branch, I haven't tried it out yet." He motioned with his knife to Cadmus' stone. "That there, though, that will not work. You gotta face it, Cad, there's no bringing back the dead."

Cadmus glared at his brother, but he didn't seem to want to let go of the stone long enough to punch him.

"Why haven't you tried it out yet?" Ignotus asked Antioch.

Antioch shrugged. "Haven't finished making it look pretty. If it is a powerful wand, I'm not going to let it look like it just came off a tree."

Ignotus continued waving his wand over the jacket, which was looking less and less like a jacket by the second. Cadmus continued staring at the stone as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

"Ah, there, see? Isn't that nice?" Antioch held up the wand. It was certainly ornate, exactly the kind of thing Antioch liked. He never did anything halfway, and always needed the grandest of possessions. "Now, let's see if it works!" He pointed it at his glass and gave the wand a swish and flick. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The glass responded so quickly it seemed to hover before Antioch had finished the charm. Cadmus looked amazed, and even Ignotus seemed fairly interested. Antioch smiled as if his most desperate wish had come true.

"Perfect." He said, "Just in time, too."

"In time for what?" Ignotus asked, but as soon as he did, he didn't need an answer. Just at that moment, a tall, bearded wizard walked into the tavern. All three brothers recognized him as Leoamros Urthadar, a fairly powerful wizard, who had beaten Antioch in several duels. Their quarrel began so long ago, neither of them remembered what it was about. Antioch hated him with a passion, but Leoamros had long stopped caring about his old rival.

"Antioch, think about this for a second—" Ignotus urged him.

"Oh, lay off, Iggy." Cadmus said, as he returned his attention to his stone, "If he wants to get himself killed, let him."

"Oh, no." Antioch said, "He's not going to win this time. I'm going to kill him."

"Antioch," Ignotus said, rushing his speech as Leoamros came closer, "you barely managed to get away with your life last time, you might not be so lucky again."

"You sound like mother." Antioch said. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He stood up and blocked Leoamros' path to the bar.

"Excuse me, I came here for a drink." Leoamros said lazily.

"Sorry, I'm not one for fulfilling last requests." Antioch said, his eyes burning.

Leaoamros raised his eyebrow and sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped." With one hand he thrust his wand to curse Antioch out of his way.

Antioch barely had to flick his finger before the wand spun into action. Leoamros' curse was blocked into a nearby table. The glass that was on it exploded into shards of glass and firewhiskey.

Leoamros scowled, but Antioch's smile widened.

Suddenly, the two wizards were flinging curses and spells at each other faster than anyone had ever seen. Many patrons ducked under their tables or ran out the door. The owner cowered in a corner, mumbling "please, good sirs, won't you take this outside?"

"Hi, Will." Will's first reaction was to make sure his invisibility had not failed him again, but then he noticed that Grell Sutcliff had approached him. "I would have thought you would have been off the clock by now."

Will looked his coworker for a moment before answering. He knew he should have been used to Grell's eccentric dress, but why did he feel it necessary to grow his hair out? It was now shoulder length. Will shook his head and returned his attention to the duel. "I'm just doing some follow up. What're you here for?"

"Leoamros Urthadar. He's scheduled to die in a few seconds."

"I wouldn't be too sure, Grell. They're wizar—"

With a flash of green light, Leoamros was knocked to the ground.

"Oooh! Here I go!" Grell said as he lifted his death scythe and tore into Leoamros' chest.

For the rest of the tavern that could not hear Grell's reaping, there was dead silence. Those few that remained looked on Antioch with a mixture of amazement, adoration, and fear.

Antioch raised his wand into the air. "Look at this wand and fear," He announced, "For I have received it from Death himself! While I am in possession of this, I cannot be defeated! I will conquer all!"

There was a round of applause from those in the tavern. Cadmus, stuffing his stone in his pocket, got up to pat his brother on the back. There was an immediate desire among almost all the patrons of the shop to buy Anitoch a drink in celebration, and one young man, practically a boy, ran out of the tavern to spread the news to the village.

Only four men did not join in with the festivities. The first two were Grell and Will. Grell, having finished his reaping, looked between Antioch's wand, which he was still holding in the air, and Will. "William," Grell said, amused, "what have you been up to?"

Will showed no signs of embarrassment. "Like I said, I'm simply following up on a reaping mission. Nothing I have done is against regulations." This was true. Regulations were rather open-ended when it came to wizards.

Grell giggled. "Oh, Will, I always knew you liked to stretch the rules to their limit, but don't you think you're on pretty thin ice, here?"

Will raised an eyebrow at his coworker. "I can handle myself, Mr. Sutcliff. However, I would appreciate it if you kept quiet about this for the time being."

Grell gave his Cheshire grin. "Whatever you say, darling. Tah tah!" and he skipped out the door.

Will returned his attention to the brothers. Cadmus and Antioch were still at the bar, as people cheered Antioch on to do more spells with his fantastic new wand. Ignotus, however, had not left his table. He was watching a man who, Will now realized, had not moved an inch, even during the duel. He was hidden in a black cloak, but his attention was entirely focused on Antioch and the wand in his hand.

The man gave a grin, which gave both Ignotus and Will a very disturbed feeling.

"_And hish wand, shnapped in two…" _Antioch sang into the night._ "Whish wash shad…" _Cadmus and Ignotus were holding up their brother on either side of him, trying to lead his stumbling down the street on a straight-ish path.

"How far did he say?" Ignotus asked as his brother began drooling on his shoulder. The bartender had given them directions to the nearest inn, The Dragon's Den, but he made it seem as if it were a lot closer than it actually was.

"Should be just around this corner." Cadmus said, trying to keep Antioch from kicking him.

"Hey, hey where're we going?" Antioch said, finally lifting his head from his drunken stupor.

"_We,_" Cadmus emphasized the word to indicate himself and Ignotus, "are going home. "_You_ are in no fit state to travel, so we're dumping you in the nearest bed and leaving without you."

"I am too in a travel shtate to fit!" Antioch said.

"I dunno, Cad," Ignotus said, ignoring Antioch, "Do you really think we should leave him so vulnerable?"

"Hey! Watsch who you're callin' vulnabable!" Antioch switched his weight so he was falling more on Cadmus, "I've got thish now," He lifted the wand in his hand, "I'm invinshable!"

"He'll be fine." Cadmus said, rolling his eyes.

"I see you finally believe that man was Death," Ignotus said.

"Wah?" Antioch looked at him incredulously, or as incredulously as one could after so many glasses of firewhiskey, "Oh, I wash jusht goin' along with the idea he wash death for the reshpect, you know? People like the idea of a wand made by death more than a wand made by someone I jusht met on a bridge." He seemed to think that idea was very funny, because he began giggling again.

They turned the corner and saw the inn up ahead. They checked in quickly, handed over some galleons to the innkeeper, and dragged Antioch up to his room.

Antioch fell asleep as soon as he hit pillow. His brothers shook their heads at him and headed out.

Will watched them leave. So, the three were splitting up, that would make it more difficult to follow. As a spur of the moment decision, he stayed with Antioch, thinking that with his arrogance, he'd be most likely to meet his untimely end.

Will did not have to wait long. Less than five minutes after the others left, the man from the tavern opened the door.

Will squinted at him. He smiled down at the unconscious man for a moment before pulling a knife from his robes.

With a murderous look in his eye, he slit open the sleeping man's throat. Antioch woke with a start, alive long enough to look into the eyes of his killer. "I don't believe we've been acquainted," he grabbed the wand from Antioch's hand, "but I'll be taking this."

Without another word, the man walked out, leaving Antioch to bleed.

Will leaped into action and reaped the man's soul. Even he hadn't wanted the brother to meet such a dark end.

He turned to the door as he finished the reaping. "One down," he said, "Two to go."


	3. Chapter 3

Will immediately left to trail the other Peverells, who were blissfully unaware that their brother was dead.

As he approached, he realized they were discussing their travel plans.

"Are you going to visit Mom and Dad?" Ignotus asked.

"Nah, I'm just going straight home." Cadmus did not look at his brother, although Ignotus was obviously trying to catch his eye.

"I bet Marvolo would like to see you—"

"Don't ever talk to me about Marvolo, Iggy."

"Cad, he's your son! You can't just leave him with our parents and ignore him. You need to move on from Sarah—"

"Shut up!" Cadmus punched his younger brother so hard he hit the ground. The world paused for the both of them as Ignotus lay there. Will almost began to prepare his scythe again, when he started moving. "Sorry." Cadmus said, backing off.

Ignotus got up, his nose bleeding. "I'm not here to judge, Cad. But I think Sarah would want you to care for her son."

"Well," Cadmus said, turning away, "I guess we'll see about that."

"Are you actually going to use that thing?"

"Why wouldn't I? You saw how well that wand worked for Antioch! This—this will work too."

Ignotus shook his head, "That's what I'm afraid of."

Cadmus tried to hit his younger brother again, but this time he dodged. "You think Sarah deserves to be dead?"

"No, I'm saying whether you believe that—William T. Spears or whatever was Death or not, I don't trust gifts given to us by a strange man in the middle of a magical bridge, especially gifts that can do the things he promised. Why, why would you ask for impossible magic that can bring back the dead?"

"I'm desperate, Iggy!" Cadmus shouted, "I can't go on like this anymore. You lot keep telling me to move on and I can't, alright?"

The two brothers halted as they reached a fork in the road. "I'll be at the house if you need me Iggy. Feel free to come by."

And so he took off for the right while Ignotus went left.

Basing his judgements off of lack of emotional stability, Will decided he would follow Cadmus next. However, he hadn't slept or eaten in several hours. He followed the middle brother as far as the house and then left for the night. He hoped nothing interesting would happen while he was gone.

The next day he did a quick reaping of a mortal old man. Nothing extraordinary about that case. Will was known for turning in paperwork quickly, but this time he finished so quickly he was sure he broke a record of some sort.

He returned to Cadmus' house. It was rather large for only one person. He could only assume that it had been meant for his wife and child.

After yesterdays activities, he had thought it necessary to look up 'Sarah's' file. She was a witch of little power but a great deal of money. She and Cadmus had been arranged to be married, but they had actually fallen madly in love with one another. Long before the date of the wedding, she had become pregnant with his child. She then died in childbirth, before the wedding could ever take place. It was not too uncommon a story, Will thought.

Cadmus spent the entire day trying to figure out how the little stone worked. Will eventually got bored and went back home, deciding he would check in again the next day.

For an entire week, Cadmus did nothing but sit in his house puzzling over the small stone. Should he throw it? Recite a spell? Should he maybe—although he never risked it—try to destroy it?

Will had no idea in the least. There was no precedent for dumping blank record into an inanimate object. He didn't really know if it would work at all, or if it would do something completely unintentional. That was another reason why he was giving Cadmus such undivided attention.

He had on occasion dropped by Ignotus' house to make sure he was still alive. However most of the time, he spent his time watching Cadmus struggle. It was quite boring, really. He had even considered abandoning his post and joining Grell for whatever atrocity the red-head had thought up.

Finally, one day, Cadmus was flipping the stone up in the air while he was reading some ancient text that was supposed to give a clue to necromancy. Will was twirling his death scythe, when he decided to stop and watch for another moment.

Once in the air, twice, and then, as it landed in the mortals palm a third time—

"Sarah!" Will nearly dropped his scythe in surprise. He looked around, but there was no one there. He almost thought Cadmus was moaning in agony when he looked at the expression on Cadmus' face.

Tears had formed in his eyes. Slowly he stood up, staring at one particular spot. Will followed his gaze, standing directly behind the man, but saw nothing but wall. "Sarah—I did it! You're alive!" He ran and hugged air at that spot, but his fingers must have passed through the apparition, because he looked confused for a moment.

It hit Will at that moment that because the stone was cinematic record, it was only reflecting the memories Cadmus had, therefore only Cadmus would be able to see her.

Cadmus looked up, as if he was listening to whatever the invisible woman had to say. "That's okay," He replied to whatever she had said, "just having you here in my life again is enough! I love you! I've missed you so much!"

He held up his hands so they hovered in the air, apparently where her own hands must be. "We'll be married," he said, "And raise Marvolo together, and grow old here in this house."

Will had a brief moment where he felt pity on the poor man for fooling him so, as Sarah was obviously not there, but a file somewhere in the hall of cinematic records. Cadmus began dancing around the house, his hands outstretched as if he was holding someone's hands.

After that things were—weird. Will was afraid to leave the house that whole week, as there was no telling when Cadmus might fall down dead. He quickly gave up trying to figure out the conversations between the wizard and his invisible fiancée.

One thing he did note, was that the conversations seemed to be getting more and more desperate. If he was judging based on the number of apologies, Cadmus was having difficulty with the fact his girlfriend was not solid. "Sorry, Sorry, I'll get the hang of this, I promise." Will didn't know if there was any precedence, but he didn't think that was the sort of thing that worked itself out.

Besides the lack of touch, the conversations seemed to be leading in circles. As Sarah was solely based off of Cadmus' memories, she could not develop or change as Cadmus was changing. That was a problem that would surely get worse.

One day, when Will wasn't sure if he himself could live through the increasingly insane conversations, Cadmus had a visitor. It was Ignotus.

Ignotus was far paler than Will had seen him. For a split second, Will thought he was looking directly at him, but he then realized that Cadmus was behind him.

"Iggy!" Cadmus called to his younger brother and ran to hug him, "I'm so glad to see you, I have excellent news!"

"Well, I'm afraid I have terrible news." Ignotus swallowed. "Antioch is dead. Killed soon after we left him."

Cadmus' smile dissolved as he looked into Ignotus' face to make sure he was serious. But then, his smile returned, "That's okay, Iggy, don't worry about it!" As Ignotus gave him a look of horror, Cadmus quickly followed with, "The stone works!"

Ignotus' eyes widened, "What?"

"Sarah and I have been living here this past week. We're still trying to get her adjusted to living again before we move Marvolo back in with us, but she's alive! She's alive! And—And Antioch will be too, I'll bring him back as well. Ah! There she is!" Cadmus looked up the stairwell, smiling and taking in his fiancée's beauty. "Isn't she lovely?"

Ignotus searched every shadow of the stairwell with his eyes. "Cadmus—where is she?"

"I think you need new glasses, Iggy, if she was a basilisk you'd be stone by now."

Indeed, Iggy took off his glasses, cleaned them with his shirt, and then put them back on. "Cadmus, no one is there."

"What do you mean, she's right here." Cadmus motioned to his left, where he held out his arm.

Ignotus looked hard at his brother as if to assess if he was mad. "Right. Well, Miss Sarah, it's been a long time." He held out his hand to kiss the lady's hand, except that he was offering to what he thought was air.

"Oh, that is the one catch. Sarah can't touch anyone."

"I see. Like a ghost?"

"She is not a ghost, damnit, she's alive! Can't you see?"

Ignotus looked hard into his brothers eyes trying to figure out what to do. Again, William could have sworn his eyes flickered to where Will was sitting, but that was impossible. "No, Cadmus, I don't see. She's an illusion. She doesn't exist outside your head."

"She does exist, she's right here, and you're insulting her! Now, apologize properly while I go and get the stone to bring back Antioch."

"No, Cadmus, don't." Ignotus held on to his brother's jacket, "The stone is a trick, don't you see, it's a trick! It will bring you to ruin and then Death will take you for his own, just like he did with Antioch!"

"Antioch will be fine if you just let me go!"

"Antioch would never have died if he hadn't taken that wand, and you won't die if you just get rid of that stone!"

"I can't believe you, trying to keep Sarah and Antioch dead! Well I won't have it, I tell you, I won't have it!"

"They're already dead, you can't bring them back, Cadmus, it's impossible! You can't bring back the dead!"

Cadmus punched his brother. Ignotus was thrown to the ground and Cadmus fell on top of him. The Peverell's grappled with one another on the floor until finally Ignotus managed to push his brother off of him. He himself backed away to the front door.

"I see now," Ignotus said opening the door, his eyes brimming with tears, "I've lost two brothers, then."

"Get out of here!" Cadmus screamed, "Get out of my house!"

"Goodbye, Cadmus. I hope we will see each other again, someday." And Ignotus was gone.

That night, Cadmus and Sarah had their first fight.

"What are you talking about?" Cadmus said, "I love you. I will always love you no matter what."

"You're all I ever wanted, nothing more. I could lose every galleon I had and be happy as long as I had you."

"How can you say something like that? I would never—"

"No, you can't! You can't do that! You can't leave me again!"

"Then damn what's for the best! I must have you! I must always be with you!"

"Don't you walk out that door! Don't you dare leave!"

"SARAH! NO, SARAH, COME BACK! SARAAAAAAH!"

"I will follow you. No matter where you go. No matter where you are. I'll follow you everywhere."

Will could not take it any longer. As Cadmus tied the rope around his neck, Will followed him, his scythe inches from the man's back.

Cadmus tied the other end of the railings. As he climbed the railing to take his final jump, Will took a final act of sympathy. He plunged his death scythe into the man's back before he could feel the pain of a noose. Cadmus' memories streamed out and Will collected them all.

Finally, Cadmus fell, hanging with a peaceful look on his face.

"That was very kind of you," A voice said behind Will. Will turned around, brandishing his death scythe, but there was no one there. "Not driving him insane with the stone, I mean, but killing him painlessly. I didn't peg you as the sympathetic type, but maybe you felt guilty."

Will searched the area, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from, however it seemed to come from everywhere. "G-Grell?" Will asked, wondering if this was that man's idea of a joke, "Is that you?"

"I suppose I can't blame you entirely. Antioch and Cadmus both were heading towards their own downfall already. Why else would they request such ridiculous things from you?"

Will finally realized he recognized that voice, and the very idea chilled him to the bone. "I suppose someday," the voice said, "I'll come to forgive you. You are only doing your job after all. But as for now,"

Two human hands suddenly pushed on his chest and William fell over the balcony. Will had never been so scared in his life. Not because he thought he would die, a reaper could survive this fall easily. But because the voice belonged to Ignotus Peverell.

Three thoughts rang through Will's mind. 1) Ignotus had figured out how to fix and work the invisibility cloak, 2) he had modified it so that he was even invisible to reapers and 3) Ignotus himself had figured out how to see through the reapers invisibility.

A/N: Yes, Marvolo is the great great (lot of greats) great grandfather of one Lord Voldemort, and the Marvolo Gaunt we know and love was named after him.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: What? LadyShinigami12 is actually updating her story? WHAT IS THIS? Sorry guys, college happened. Anyway. This is the 2nd to last chapter. if I EVER get the last one out, that is...no, I will, don't worry. And I'm going to TRY writing fanfiction more often, I have a lot of stories in progress that aren't posted. because when I post the stories before I finish writing them, suddenly I can't work on them anymore. *sigh* the many woes of me.

"Will, I think it's time you let it go."

"No."

"Look, everyone has a story of the one that got away! Did I ever tell you about that man down in York who actually fought me off with his dying breath?"

"You told me. Now stop distracting me, Grell."

"But Will-"

"See you tomorrow."

Everyday, Will would do whatever reaping job needed to be done, file away his report, and then return to the human world to search for that damn wizard. His search hadn't gone successfully. He was sure Ignotus had figured out a way to see through a reaper's invisibility.

He had stalked the houses of Ignotus, his parents, his brothers' old house, and the houses of everyone Ignotus had ever met. He had looked up the man's record, but he must have been using magic to do something to it, because huge sections of the book were blank.

"Will, wait up." Grell followed him out of the office, completely abandoning his own paperwork. "This is getting ridiculous. Just do the extra paperwork. This is not worth it.

"Keep quiet." Will looked nervously around, making sure no one heard what Grell had said. He whispered quickly, "It's not about the paperwork anymore. Do you know what they'll do to me for causing so much damage? Allowing a mortal to use an invisibility jacket? Unauthorized usage of blank cinematic records? I'll be lucky to stay in the dispatch at all."

Grell looked amazed. He had obviously not thought of this. "Do you want my help?"

"Goodness no."

Grell gave a small smile, "Not even just emotional support?"

"I'm leaving Sutcliffe."

"To follow that brat?"

"No, I actually have a reaping assignment. Perhaps you should get back to your job?"

Grell rolled his eyes and stalked off to his desk. William hoped the assignment didn't take long, he did want to search more for Ignotus.

Today's assignment was rather standard, a young boy dying of a dreadful disease the doctors couldn't identify. It was a quick case, as the cinematic record was so short.

"About time you showed up." A voice said behind him. Recognizing the voice instantly, he took out a handful of powder that he now carried at all times, and spread it across the room. Immediately a clump landed around a human shape directly behind him.

He pointed his death scythe at the human and prepared to jam it through the shape, when there was a flash of light, and his death scythe fell to the floor.

A wand poked out from the air. "Honestly, I go through the trouble of tracking down every sick and aging person in London I could in order to find you, and you immediately try to kill me! It's been hard, you know. I didn't realize how many reapers there were."

Will stood frozen, staring at the wand until Ignotus finally removed his cloak. He had grown slightly older, but he still looked young. "Well," Ignotus said, "You haven't aged a day. Not that I expected you to."

"What do you want?"

"Well, for you to stop hunting me down would be a good start. It makes it harder to earn a living when I'm always hiding under this." Will looked at the cloak, for indeed it was a true wizard's cloak now, not a reaper's jacket. It was shiny and silky, almost as though it were made of liquid. Ignotus was truly a magnificent inventor.

"I'm afraid that's not entirely possible anymore," Will said, looking directly into the man's eyes, "You see, I made a critical mistake letting your soul escape. I'm going to need it."

Ignotus gave a half smile, "That does put a damper on our relationship."

"I can make it painless," Will said, "By all rights, you should have died a year ago on that bridge."

"I'm afraid I'm rather attached to living." Will began to reach down for his death scythe, but Ignotus shot a quick curse at it, causing the scythe to roll further away, "Sorry, you won't be taking my soul today."

Will narrowed his eyes at him, trying to determine the best course of action. "I will never stop hunting you, and you will never stop hiding from me."

"Looks like it." Ignotus smiled, "I suppose that means that we're at an impasse." Will stared at him in silence, waiting for the mortal to make his first move. "I met a girl, you know," Ignotus continued, "A nice girl, and I want to marry her. But you—your shadow follows me. Us. I can't be running all the time. I need some stability."

Will did not break his stare. "You knew," Will calmly, "You knew before the others what I was, and you believed me." Ignotus frowned before nodding. "Then you know that I am not the sort of being to offer sympathy. Many people wish for happy lives. I wouldn't give it to them even if I could. It's not in the nature of a grim reaper."

Ignotus nodded slowly and his gaze fell to the floor. He then looked back up and glared into his green-golden eyes. "I thought as much. I didn't think it'd be that easy, really."

"Then why," Will asked, frowning "Did you track down every dying person in London to find me?"

Ignotus swallowed. "Well, I had an idea, you see." He gave a nervous smile, but it disappeared quickly. "I thought I'd follow one of Antioch's old ideals. If someone's trying to kill you, kill them first." Will froze. "I was hesitant, you know, I'm not sure how one kills Death. Will magic work?"

Will stared at the wand tip. He honestly didn't know. No other Reaper had been stupid enough to test whether magic worked on reapers. "It was a mistake." He said, more in order to stall than anything, "I shouldn't have broken protocol. It had always worked for me before, but I know better now, and I'll never do it again. But right now, I need to clean up after my mess, and if that means the death of one mortal, than so be it."

"You're not exactly in a position to be threatening me," Ignotus said, but Will could see the beads of sweat dropping down, "And besides, do you really think simply killing me will be the end of it? What about the items you gave us? Antioch's wand has already passed into legend. And Cadmus' stone has passed to Marvolo with the rest of his belongings."

"Well then, I'll just have to track them down, now won't I?" Will said, frowning.

"No!" Ignotus said, his wand shaking, "Don't you dare go anywhere near Marvolo!"

"What will you do about it?" Will asked.

"I'll kill you!" Ignotus said through clenched teeth.

"If you were going to do that," Will said, still calmly, "you would have done it already." Will and Ignotus locked eyes. Ignotus' opened in shock at Wills words. Slightly kinder than before, Will said, "Just as it is not in my nature to show sympathy, it's not in your nature to kill."

"I have to." An actual tear fell down the mortal's face, "It's the only way!"

"You think it will be over if you kill me?" Will asked, thinking quickly before Ignotus could try and kill him, "You've seen how many reapers there are. If you kill me, there will be an investigation. You think it's bad with one reaper as your shadow. Imagine hundreds. Thousands."

Okay, so it was mostly a lie. Grell would obviously know what happened, but other than that, one rookie officer might not be missed that much. Ignotus didn't know that, though.

Ignotus fell to the floor defeated, his wand drooping at his side. Will inched towards his death scythe, making no sudden movements to provoke the wizard. "Please," Ignotus begged, "Leave me alone."

Will paused looking down at the man. "Death waits for no one, no matter their magical ability. That's something you arrogant wizards don't seem to understand." Ignotus let out a sob.

As the man sobbed, Will slowly stepped towards where his death scythe lay on the floor. "You're a clever man, Peverall, I'll give you that," He said to distract him, "Even though this entire situation was based more off of my mistakes rather than your achievements, I must admire your ability to even survive this long."

"Then give me time," Ignotus said. Will paused, both unsure of his meaning and what to do. He was mainly focused on getting to his scythe. "What's a century to you? Just let me live my life and I'll come with you, gratefully."

Will wondered for a moment. He was often prided for being a cold-hearted man, (Grell loved him for it) but Ignotus had probed he could be very resourceful at times, and a century long game of cat and mouse did not appeal to him. "It…" He said hesitantly, "It is difficult for me to track you while you wear the cloak. In fact, it is near impossible to hunt for you."

Ignotus looked up at him, considering his words and what they meant. "Thank you," He said, and disappeared on the spot, cloak and all.


End file.
